マサチューセッツ州におけるテスト政策と教育アセスメント行政の実態 : 「マサチューセッツ州総合評価システム」の成立と影響

抄録

The purpose of this paper is to consider the establishment and influences of the "Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System(= MCAS test)", which has been used state-wide in Massachusetts public schools since 1998. In Massachusetts, there are still many unresolved arguments about the state examination administration beyond the issue of the MCAS test itself. This article will study the actual conditions of educational assessment administration in Massachusetts, and will verify how the MCAS is not only used as a competency test, but as also an instrument of educational reform. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 promised improved schools that would fully develop the talents and skills of every child in the commonwealth. The MCAS test that has been in use since 1998 was to measure student understanding of the learning under the state standard curriculum framework and was to measure the achievement of students, schools and districts at grades four, eight, and ten in the core subjects of mathematics, science & technology, history and social science, English / language arts and eventually a foreign language. The MCAS test is evaluated as a just tool of new reforms of assessment and evaluation in Massachusetts. After all, the aim of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act is to evaluate not only on students' learning abilities and teachers' teaching skills, but also on a clear ranking of schools and school districts by a high - stakes test. Most important point in the Massachusetts educational reform was how to combine such a highly individualized assessment test with the state curriculum standards that have been under development since 1993. In conclusion, an assessment of individual student, school and district is considered as an important tool of educational reform in Massachusetts. Many politicians and educators are thinking the MCAS test as a panacea for educational reform. However, we should understand that there are many serious problems in the MCAS test. The educational assessment administration in Massachusetts is now a typical example of educational reform in the United States.